Lost Cause: The Federal Government will Never Limit Itself

It's James Madison's foundational warning about the Constitution itself.

No matter how clearly the powers are listed out, are divided and spelled out in the document, words on paper don't enforce themselves, they never did, and they never will.

Writing in Federalist 48, he said, "A mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers of government in the same hands." So if words on paper don't enforce themselves, who's responsible for enforcement? Well, James Madison gave us the answer in Federalist Number 46, and it's the blueprint for how the father of the Constitution expected the people and the states to keep the federal government in check, whether the federal government happens to like it or not.

And today, all through modern times, politicians and bureaucrats, they act like they're your boss.

But James Madison had a very different view of the arrangement.

All governments, federal, state, and local as well, they're not masters.

They're the hired help, agents of the people themselves.

He said, "The federal and state governments are in fact but different agents and trustees of the people, constituted with different powers and designated for different purposes." So if we want to understand how Madison expected us to enforce the Constitution, we have to start with that as our foundation.

Who's in charge? Who's the boss? And what are those different purposes? So if we want to understand how powers are delegated and reserved in the Constitution, James Madison told us in Federalist Number 45, "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.

Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite." And he didn't keep us guessing about what those few powers delegated to the federal government really are, and they're almost all facing entirely outward.

He said, "The former," that's the federal power, "will be exercised principally on external objects as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce, with which last the power of taxation will for the most part be connected." And anything and everything else, that's completely off-limits to the federal government.

Madison said, "The powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects which in the ordinary course of affairs concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the states." But James Madison wasn't naive here, and he fully expected the feds to cross the line, but he also knew who holds the upper hand in the constitutional system, the upper hand to shut those people down.

It's James Madison's foundational warning about the Constitution itself.

No matter how clearly the powers are listed out, are divided and spelled out in the document, words on paper don't enforce themselves, they never did, and they never will.

Writing in Federalist 48, he said, "A mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments is not a sufficient guard against those encroachments which lead to a tyrannical concentration of all the powers of government in the same hands." So if words on paper don't enforce themselves, who's responsible for enforcement? Well, James Madison gave us the answer in Federalist Number 46, and it's the blueprint for how the father of the Constitution expected the people and the states to keep the federal government in check, whether the federal government happens to like it or not.

And today, all through modern times, politicians and bureaucrats, they act like they're your boss.

But James Madison had a very different view of the arrangement.

All governments, federal, state, and local as well, they're not masters.

They're the hired help, agents of the people themselves.

He said, "The federal and state governments are in fact but different agents and trustees of the people, constituted with different powers and designated for different purposes." So if we want to understand how Madison expected us to enforce the Constitution, we have to start with that as our foundation.

Who's in charge? Who's the boss? And what are those different purposes? So if we want to understand how powers are delegated and reserved in the Constitution, James Madison told us in Federalist Number 45, "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.

Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite." And he didn't keep us guessing about what those few powers delegated to the federal government really are, and they're almost all facing entirely outward.

He said, "The former," that's the federal power, "will be exercised principally on external objects as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce, with which last the power of taxation will for the most part be connected." And anything and everything else, that's completely off-limits to the federal government.

Madison said, "The powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects which in the ordinary course of affairs concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the states." But James Madison wasn't naive here, and he fully expected the feds to cross the line, but he also knew who holds the upper hand in the constitutional system, the upper hand to shut those people down.